How a B747 Returns to the Skies After Years in Desert Storage?

- This is amazing, guys. Let's take a look at the 747. It has a second life, having just been reactivated after

years

of

storage

. (plane engine roar) (upbeat music) - Hello, my name is Gloyd Robinson and a couple of days ago I had the privilege of moving this airplane out of long-term

storage

in the

desert

. He was born about 30

years

ago and started transporting passengers. Few passengers for about 15 years, it was transformed into a freighter and then stored for a long time, its fate unknown. It was in storage for a few years and is now being reactivated. It will go away, undergo intense maintenance, and then fly again with cargo and profitable freight.

I'm in the lower electronic compartment here for the electronic compartment. Down there, under my right foot. That is the nose gear of the plane and there is a ladder that we can extend. This slides up to the nose gear so we can climb this ladder to the lower E and E deck and then climb this ladder to the main cargo deck. - Oh man, this is hard work, like never getting off the gear and like it's not easy and you're stuck here. You can be stuck here forever with the 747. - Okay, Sam, let's take a look at the view from my office window. - Stairs to heaven, here I come.

It looks very good, I have to say. Everything is functional, right? The yoke is very heavy on a 74. If you are on Airbus, you can fly with joystick, it is light and easy. But do you want to fly on Boeing? Yes, better go to the gym. Better start lifting the dumbbells. (upbeat music) I know that even if you have an old car in the garage, you know, you can't just take it out after four years of storage, right? It probably won't start, so I knew there will probably be a lot of work before you can take off.

The guys in the

desert

must be sweating a lot because of a lot of work, months and months. - So, Sam, before I report to fly the plane, the FAA's designated airworthiness representative comes and signs a special flight permit for us, and that approves all the work the maintenance team has done to reactivate the plane. plane. - Still in RTO, okay, go ahead. - But we also did some high-speed taxi tests, just last minute tests before the plane took off. (plane engine revving) - Where did you put the molding? - At 3.5. Up to 90 knots, pull the thrust levers back and the speed brakes will come back automatically and then down here, these automatic brakes that would normally be set to RTO, refused takeoff.

These automatically activate maximum braking on the aircraft, so they get your attention. As soon as you pull the thrust levers back, those two things happen that slow you down as quickly as possible, as quickly as possible. The plane tilts a little and you throw yourself against the straps. It's even quite exciting knowing that it's coming and that most people who have turned down takeoffs, you know, if you're a line pilot who flies, you're starting to take off, not knowing that that's coming. So it would be an even bigger shock, but it's still very exciting to do it when you plan to do it. (upbeat music) So, another thing that was unique about that flight from Mojave to San Bernardino is that because the plane had been parked for so long, the FAA asked us to transfer the plane with the landing gear, still extended , to this maintenance facility and One of the checks that they just finished doing at the maintenance facility here is called gear turning.

It's exactly what it seems. They place the plane on large jacks and lift it off the ground. The gear actually lifts off the ground and then they retract the landing gear while it's here in the hangar. It's pretty impressive. (machine screeching) - And isn't it a great feeling? - It's an amazing feeling to see that the plane will continue to fly and not just become razor blades and beer cans. (upbeat music) Sam, I hate to tell you this, but this isn't the first 747 you've missed. In fact, we took another airplane out of long-term storage and then into a maintenance facility last month, the sky blue one, a 747-400 freighter. (aircraft engine revving) (upbeat music) After a hard day at the office, as you can see, we have our own bedroom here, double bunk beds right behind the cabin.

Shared accommodation. (upbeat music) - This part here is probably the most essential equipment on board for making coffee for the pilots and I'm very impressed. The kitchen, everything has been restored after storage because I have been to the desert before. There are many planes that have had all the parts removed and everything is scattered. But you know, it's awesome to see when the plane goes back, oops, (boing) looks like I just broke this part, sorry. - Okay, Sam broke the coffee pot. We're not going anywhere now. -How long have you been working on this plane? - On this, especially on this car, four months. - Four months?

My God. Everything working now? - Yes. - Except I broke the coffee, that's the essential equipment there. I broke that. You have to rework that. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. (Both laugh) I'm fascinated by your work because you transport planes from storage locations in the desert. - So, Sam, I started my airline career in 1999 and stayed as a line pilot until 2012. By then I had already found the company Jet Test and have been flying planes on my days off from the airline. And yes, they are two very different experiences: working as a line pilot and then flying on a ferry and flying a demonstration, testing the flight of this plane.

I especially like taking airplanes out of the desert that people may have abandoned. They never thought they would fly again. And then watching them go through the reactivation process and handing them off to their new families, their new homes, and watching them start life again. (plane engine revving) Let's say I'm walking onto the main deck of the 747 freighter. We can place up to 33 different pallets here on this deck, depending on the size of the pallet. And that's what makes the 747 the king of freighters. So this plane, as we're talking about starting its life as a passenger plane, you'll see some remnants of that, which you won't see on the production freighters, airplanes that came out of the factory as freighters, windows here or There's still something left, it's still a of the passenger doors visible at the rear.

Of course, it is disabled. - I was very excited when I got on board the 74 and I know that there are two differences in an airliner converter freighter like this, compared to a factory new freighter. The first difference is looking at the nose. There is no front loading on the converted freighter because there was no passenger bulkhead there. So the nose can't open like the factory freighter and the second cool thing is this feature here. Can you see this little bag here? That's the 747 upper deck bag, the upper deck bubble. It all ends here. That's why you suddenly see a wider open space in the back here, because up there is the upper deck. (upbeat music) Alden is the man who made me aware of all the good work they do, not only reactivating my favorite plane, the 747 on my t-shirt here, but when you combine that aviation, with sending humanitarian cargo to the less privileged country . where they were needed.

That's what's super meaningful and now I got really motivated. They were able to get a 747 about to set sail empty a couple of weeks ago for heavy maintenance overseas. (upbeat music) - I saw them load 80 tons of cargo into that 747, it was so full that even the entire upper deck was completely full and that was wonderful. It was an opportunity for everyone to contribute and help. - So this mission was made possible by many organizations and industry leaders pooling resources to achieve this great mission. Because it's too expensive for one organization, but when you have all these organizations like Sky One, Boeing, FedEx, Unical, the Coulson family and also the Las Vegas Indian Chamber of Commerce, all pooling resources, it made it possible to airlift 80 tons of life-saving COVID relief from San Bernardino Airport to Delhi, India.

It was an incredible mission and I am very excited to have the opportunity to do it again in a few weeks. And we welcome you aboard Sam, it's going to be an incredible journey. We are going to positively impact lives and save lives. - Let's do it. I love 747. You can tell by my t-shirt, right? But when you combine that aviation with something meaningful, like a humanitarian mission, I'm all for it. Let's do it, right? - Absolutely. (upbeat music)